Rangel’s Son Got Campaign Cash

Between 2004 and 2007, Rep. Charles Rangel steered nearly $80,000 in campaign cash to an Internet company run by his son — paying lavishly for a pair of political websites so poorly designed an expert estimated one should have cost no more than $100 to create.

The payments are apparently legal under federal law, but their disclosure raises new questions about the Ways and Means Committee chairman as he faces House ethics committee probes into his failure to pay taxes on rental income and his alleged use of House stationery to solicit contributions for a public policy center that bears his name.

Rangel’s leadership PAC and congressional committee shelled out $79,560 to Edisonian Innovative Works for “websites,” according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Read more: (Luke Rosiak and Glenn Thrush, “Tangled Web: Rangel Son Got Campaign Cash,” Politico, 12/04/08)